This is not the terrific Australian Rolf de Heer film... this is another one of those cheap, corny and crappy (haha, good pun, eh?) American action films. Yawn. Why do films like this get a R4 release and other more wanted films have to wait on the sidelines? But oh well, what can you do about it?

Let’s just say that so many crappy components are working together – bad scripting, bad dialogue, bad comedy, bad acting and a poor story. It just blows. Why would big names such as Casper Van Dien agree to make such a corny and low-brow film? Well we have a suave Conner Spears (Van Dien) who just reeks of rehearsed charm, as well as a strong-willed and oddly-comic cab driver Carmen Bavelah (Robertson), and not to mention the slickly confident Rick Tsung (Wong). But these three just lack the chemistry that should exist for this sort of film, and what is produced is painfully unfunny, excessively violent and just plain stupid. Spears appears like a cross between James Bond and Austin Powers, but just not as classy nor as funny. Bavelah sticks out like a sore thumb with some poor comedic timing and a wimpy character, even though she is the best part of the film. Sad, but true. But one odd thing, she seems so annoyed to have to cuddle with Casper Van Dien... what is this girl thinking?

"You wouldn't like it. Nobody says "please".�

The story is simple, where the Chang family are the most powerful crime dynasty in New York. But the new Russians on the block are not happy with the residence, and murder the head of the Chang family and kidnap his beautiful wife. So who better to find the girl than ex-LAPD cop Connor Spears, and the woman’s brother Rick Tsung? Early on their detective path they come across a young cabbie, Carmen Bavelah, who has more guts than a dead chicken, and better looks too. But the family ties are looser than they appear, and the trio soon find themselves in more trouble than they would have liked. And what better way to get out of trouble than some martial arts?

Village Roadshow keep up their good reputation with this transfer, but it just suffers from a slight colouration issue. The enhanced 1.78:1 widescreen aspect looks great, but does look slightly “American�. The colours appear very soft and muted, and the saturation levels make it look like an NTSC transfer. The skin tones are an orangey pink, and greens just excrete a gacky brilliance. Honestly, the bright blue tones are the only realistic colour in the whole film. Except black, but that doesn’t count – technically it's not a colour. But while we’re on the topic, blacks are solid and deep, yet at times do scream a little “blue�, but still do not show off any low-level noise. The odd angry aliasing line can be seen, and posterisation effects are thankfully kept to a minimum. So technically speaking, the video looks great, apart from these slight colour issues. The 89 minute feature fits comfortably onto a single layer, while the included English subtitles are clear to read, and slightly edited.

As has been the case with many Roadshow titles, the packaging claims a Dolby Digital 2.0 track accompanying the 5.1 track, but like The White River Kid, no stereo track can be found. Regardless, the Dolby Digital 5.1 effort is decent, but nothing to really drag you in. During the opening scenes especially, the subwoofer rips up the soundstage and heavily supports the effects, and continues to do so off and on throughout the film. But sadly, the surround channels don’t get such a heavy work out with the effects and music being carried primarily through the front end of the soundstage. Dialogue comes from the centre channel, and is clear throughout, save for a few odd accents.

The usual rental-only features have been thrown in by Roadshow, and that is a brief theatrical trailer which hardly tells the story of the film, and really does it no justice. Not that there is much to be kind to anyway...

This film (well, nearly anyway) is corny, American and really not worth the time required to watch it. Roadshow’s transfer is predictably Roadshow, so in other words, great, and the rental-only extras are really irrelevant. So if you’re really, really, really desperate for a DVD, this may just have to do. Sadly.